Music Career: Guitarist Ryan Lee Toms and drummer Jonathan Thatch created HMPH! in 2012. Thatch earned a degree in percussion from Truman State University in Kirksville, Missouri. Toms, a self-taught guitarist, has been developing is non-conventional style for almost a decade.

The Story: Toms was inspired to write "Sghetti Sauce" based on a strange chord he created by quickly sliding his fingers up the neck of his guitar. He says its harsh tone sounded like, "somebody was probably wrecking their room to the beginning of [the] song." But Toms wanted "Sghetti Sauce" to embody both aggression and peace — he believes, "they both belong in everybody's life at certain parts, otherwise we wouldn't really be alive."

Following his dynamic vision, Toms contrasted the first section of the song with a soothing optimistic midsection melody. A turn of a guitar pedal nob transitions the song from stacked looping melodies to its final movement of reverberating oceanic sound waves.

The Music: HMPH! plays math rock, a genre of experimental rock typically based around rhythmically complex guitar. Toms uses five guitar pedals to give his sound depth and character. The pedals also allow him to play more than one guitar part at once, creating the illusion of a bigger band.

Thatch plays a full drum set, without using any electronics. Fretless bass player Devin McCollum joined HMPH! this month. Though he does not appear on their debut album Headrush, he will play on future records and live shows with HMPH!. A vocalist might appear in future work, but HMPH! remains instrumental only for now.

Music Career: The Popper’s been rapping in Kansas City since 1996, straddling some of Kansas City’s different hip-hop scenes.

The Story: After a few days in jail early this summer, Edwin was on house arrest and wrote and recorded a whole album, Write (Right) Thru The Pain, about that experience. With that out of the way, he wrote, recorded and released the summer anthem "I’m KC" in a matter of days.

If the blues were an amputated, gushing heart, Danielle Nicole (Schnebelen) would gladly pick it up and pin it to her sleeve for the sake of a song.

After the Schnebelen family band, Trampled Under Foot, parted ways last year, Nicole wasted no time in creating the Danielle Nicole Band. Wolf Den, her debut solo album, hemorrhages tales of pain and vulnerability from the daily trouble of finding a love that lasts.

Hearing the instrumental math rock HMPH! is like watching a mastermind play an intense game of Tetris. Like blocks, notes keep coming with no indication of where they will fall, making the band’s debut album, Headrush, an unpredictable journey.